The development of the gallium-arsenic semiconductor laser, or diode laser, is expected to extend the use of lasers into the wavelength range of 780-830 nm. The impact of this laser is expected to cover diverse fields including opto-electronic systems such as laser optical recording systems, thermal writing display systems, laser printing systems, and medical applications such as cancer treatment and imaging.
Almost any laser application requires some means for absorbing the energy of the laser beam to accomplish a meaningful task. Full exploitation of these new lasers awaits the development of near-infrared absorbing dyes and there has been on ongoing effort in the art to provide such. Provided herein is a novel class of dyes which absorb throughout the near-infrared region.